First Lambs of the Season!

Sparkles had her twins last night!

I woke up at about 2:40 am from a deep sleep, worried about Sparkles. She had been acting different yesterday, and I was pretty sure her time was soon. I couldn't shake the feeling, so I finally got up and checked our lambcam.

I saw one lamb up and moving with Starr, our llama standing guard, and I was out the door running. At some point I said to my husband, "Mike! Lambs!" When I got to the barn, Starr was still over the lamb, and Sparkles was to the other one. I scooped them up and put all three in a lambing pen.

Mike joined me about 5 minutes later, and then we stared at them for an hour.

The EweThe Ram

Starr standing guard.

Great Expectations

My girls may not be pregnant much longer, so I took some "expecting" pictures this afternoon.

 Pregnant Emerald--this is her first baby.Pregnant Peridot--this is her second lamb.Pregnant Sparkles--those would be twins in that belly!Sparkles is a proven twin-er, and Emerald, her daughter, was a twin, so eventually I'm hoping to see twins from Emerald as well.

Peridot looks to be the smallest right now, but she also has a shorter wool staple length, so I don't think that's telling me much about who will go first. If they had been sheared, I'd have a better view of what's going on.

Sparkles and Peridot are starting to bag up (their udders are filling), but being seasoned moms, that's also not telling me much about when to expect babies. My guess is by the end of March we'll have all the lambs here. Maybe even this weekend, but I doubt it.

Knox!!!

My newest friend, Hannah, came over yesterday to help with fiber work and shovel out the critter pen. She thinks it's fun work! Good friend to have, right?!

Another of the many benefits to having Hannah around is that she's always taking pictures.

Check out this close up she got of Knox.

I'm a Shepherdess!

This day has been three years in the making! From planning to moving, from saving to building, we've put a lot of thought, time, hard work and patience into finally having sheep of our own.

And now they're here! Sparkles, Peridot, Emerald and Knox all arrived safe and sound via . . . that's right . . . minivan (why does anyone buy a trailer?!).

 

Here I am working with Sparkles to get her out of the dog crate and into the pasture.

 

And here's Knox (our ram lamb) and me on our way to the pasture.

 

Starr was beside herself with excitement at the arrival of the sheep. The sheep were not so impressed with her. In fact, they were pretty much terrified.

 

But soon, everyone figured out how to get along.

 

Here are some gratuitous sheep and llama pictures. We still have some construction going on for the expansion of the barn. Before we go on vacation, the animals will have a roof with tarp sides. By the end of August, they'll have a shiny new barn to be safe and secure in.